wow that really sucks Capt...its always a downer to hear these stories. in my circle of friends im the guy who fixes/tampers with this stuff so people tend to come to me first when they break. so far out of my close friends we have only lost 2 machines (both sent back and replaced by ms)...but i have a stack of busted machines that were out of warranty/not covered that other people have brought me. sometimes you can take 2 busted ones and make a working one depending on the reason they broke. if you cant take it back to futuremop and dont feel like smashing it to bits, hit me up with a pm. im always interested in spare parts/accessories...

Just go to Wal-Mart, buy another system, just carefully remove the other case, and swap them. Return the same item saying it doesn't work and you got another one at another store. If they don't want, bitch a bit and ask for the store manager. Tell him that the box that you are really disappointed and you got that console recently. ( ie. 2 days ago )

Works everytime, I worked a Wal-Mart for a year and you would be surprise what got return, basically, if Wal-Mart have the item, you can return it even without a receipt. The key part, is the "ask for a manager" part. If it doesn't work, you have like 10 Wal-Mart in a radius of 100 km.

The Halo Edition isn't available anymore... unless you are very lucky to get one at Wal-Mart. Returning it a Microsoft would be useless as they check every stickers, while Wal-Mart lacks of Electronics knowledge. So, just specified that you plugged it in, and nothing worked, keep everything else wrapped, like Controllers and such, open the power cord...etc.

Swapping the case is easier because you don't risk to rip the the sticker, and most of the time the glue on the back is a one-time and only moment. I have experience, I had someone return something that we didn't have in the store, he bitched enough that the manager gave him the value he said... and it's was like a Kirkland brand item (ie. Costco)

Trust me, the worst can happen is you will need to go to another store, and Wal-Mart isn't a rare species of store.

Ummm , Lol, like I said earlier, look on the NET, lots of peeps did this. Use your wifes blowdryer, than you got a more than one use sticker. And use tweezers to remove it. If all else fails, wrap it up in towels and fire the puppy up and run it for like 30 minutes, That alwaysfixes em real good. THan you can send it back.
END OF THREAD?

End of thread? Not because you gave one possible way to do it that ends a thread...

The blanket trick doesn't work all time. Most of the time, it only fixes it for around 1 - 2 days then comes back. If you worked for you, congrats. The sticker swapping isn't good because you will swap 2 different SKU and putting a Halo edition into a Xbox Premium is really smart...